The Cockle Ponds
If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll see a duplicate post to this. Sorry about that.
Most mornings when I go for a walk I end up going around these ponds. They are a perpetual source of interest to me. I think two main ones are the frustration I feel when I find someone has thrown a shopping trolley in to the ponds, and the delight I experience at the wildlife I often see in the ponds, mainly I suppose the Jelly Fish, which I haven’t seen this year probably because I took a break from the morning walking.
Elayne suggested that I do a piece on the ponds.
What follows is a praraphrasing of the four information boards that are around the pond. I don’t know if the information on the board is copyright, although the facts are in the public, I am assuming they are;
Model boat building and sailing have taken place at Gosport since the 1890’s involving different styles of model yacht.
The model hatching we see today started around 1913. Members of the club would have built their own vessels. Quite often they would have been helped by staff from Camper & Nelson the famous boat yard.
Over the century, Gosport has hosted several world class championships. Large crowds were a regular feature.
Actually, I gave up with the paraphrasing at this point.
Walpole Park was created in 1869 on the area known as Horsefield, which was used previously by the army for exercising horses. The model boating sailing facility originates from a mill pond coupled to Gods Port (later called Gosport) creek, in the reign of Charles II and is shown on maps from 1678. It was changed into a cockle pond in 1751. The pond was created by a wall separating it from the town’s moat.
The Walpole Park lakes are not only an important leisure facility, they play an integral part of the local nature scene for wildlife, with the lakes being designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Ramsar Site Wetland of International Importance in. 1971. Gosport BoroughCouncil and the. Gosport Model Yacht and boat Club (GMY&BC) manage the lakes, whilst Natural England maintains a strict monitoring programme on the waterfront quality.
The Walpole Park Lakes are known throughout the world with skippers coming from all over the globe to race their yachts on these famous and unique facilities. A flat concrete path encompasses the lakes the larger of the two lakes being 230m long and 54m wide with the smaller one being 110m long and 55m wide. Typically 1.5 m deep holding approx 3.5 million gallons (15000 tons) of salt water which is obtained from Haslar Creek via a control valve.
The ponds were renovated under the unemployment work programme after the Great War. The official opening on 1st august 1921 was attended by approx 3000 people.
The Millenium celebrations and development of the Gosport Waterfront made funding available via the Heritage Lottery Fund, together with support from Gosport Borough Council and the Gosport Model Yacht and boat Club, for a new pavilion in Walpole Park known as The Compass Point. This houses the Club Room and Boat House on the ground floor and a cafe bistro on the upper floor.
Model Yachting keeps the name of Gosport circulating the world with the Worldd International Radio A Class Championships, held in 2005, with skippers travelling from as far as New Zealand to compete. These unique facilities coupled with a dedicated club membership, visitors and the continued support from GBC ensures model yachting will continue well into its third Century at Walpole Park.
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